


Found My Missing Piece

by styleandsin



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Blogger Louis, Blow Jobs, Crushes, Fluff, Instagram, M/M, Pining, Social Influencers, Social Media, Strangers to Lovers, Twitter, blogger harry, instagram models
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-03-25 15:47:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13837965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/styleandsin/pseuds/styleandsin
Summary: “@harrystyles followed you.”“@harrystyles liked your tweet.”“What?” He whispers in astonishment, because there’s no way. But he clicks on Harry’s profile and sure enough, the little grey “follows you” appears by his name. After taking a second to just stare at the screen, he quickly takes a screenshot and sends it to his sister. Lottie is one of the few people who would understand his shock. Niall would certainly just make fun of him for it.Louis and Harry are both fashion bloggers. Louis' been following Harry for years. Harry and his blog really gave him the confidence and the push to make his own. His sister and best friend have been making fun of his silly little crush on him ever since. But that's all it is, a silly, harmless crush because there is no way Harry knows who he is. Or does he?





	Found My Missing Piece

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the organizers for this challenge and to my [beta](https://maggieisalarrie.tumblr.com/) who was a huge help! I loved writing this and hope you love reading it!

Louis sighs, rubbing at his temple with one hand as he saves the final versions of the photos he’s been editing for his Kappa post. He’d received some new pieces along with a brand deal offer after he had posted about how much he loved their new collection a year ago and he’s been working with them quite a lot since. They’ve been doing some great collaborations with different brands and he is really loving what they’ve been doing. He had a lot of fun putting together outfits, picking his favorites, and talking about why he liked them in the post, so he’s excited about this one.

After saving all the photos, he brings up the draft of the post and checks that all his links, affiliate and normal, are working before saving it again. He scrolls through and selects a photo from the set to post to Instagram, a shot of his joggers and his shoes, and captions it with the word ‘soon’, followed by a shoe emoji and makes sure to tag Kappa in the post.

Louis closes his laptop then, shoving it into his backpack and grabbing his trash from the table. He throws it out and puts his backpack on over his shoulder and steps out into the cold New York air, immediately zipping up his bomber jacket that covers his hoodie. He’s rounding the corner when someone who is not paying a bit of attention runs straight into him, dropping the drink he was carrying at the same time. Louis quickly jumps out of the way, just in time for the splash of the dark liquid to barely miss his white Gucci sneakers.

“Oh, sorry man. Wasn’t looking where I was going,” the man says as he bends to pick up the now empty cup and moves around Louis to keep walking.

Louis’ still in shock, thanking every god there is and isn't that his shoes are still clean. There’s no way he’d be able to clean them and not ruin them somehow in the process, so he’s relieved. He lifts his phone and snaps a quick picture of the wet concrete surrounding his feet before carefully stepping over it and continuing on his walk home. He posts it on twitter with the caption “close call!” and returns his freezing hands to his pockets.

It isn’t until a few hours later when he’s simultaneously planning a lookbook and trying to keep an eye on his dinner in the oven that he sees the notification. Niall had texted him, so his screen had lit up on the table next to him, and right below his text asking Louis if he wanted to come over later are two twitter notifications.

**“@harrystyles followed you.”**

**“@harrystyles liked your tweet.”**

“What?” He whispers in astonishment, because there’s no way. But he clicks on Harry’s profile and sure enough, the little grey “follows you” appears by his name. After taking a second to just stare at the screen, he quickly takes a screenshot and sends it to his sister. Lottie is one of the few people who would understand his shock. Niall would certainly just make fun of him for it.

He’s been running his blog and Instagram for about two and a half years now, and he can’t imagine doing anything else, really. It started out with just Instgraming his outfits, and tweeting about brands he’s loving and pieces he was looking to get. He was hesitant when Lottie suggested he start a blog. He wasn’t like her, he couldn’t keep up a blog like the one she has for her beauty stuff. He knew nothing about cameras or photography, but he borrowed Lottie’s camera, and she would show him how she takes photos when she’s by herself, and even told him her boyfriend Tommy would take some of him if he wanted.

Needless to say, it all worked out. Sort of. Louis began to post better quality pictures more often and people really liked him, apparently. He gained a following quickly, and not only on Instagram and Twitter, his blog was doing really well. He was just really happy he could talk about things that he loved with people who loved the same things. Mainly street style fashion, but occasionally music, tv shows, and everything in between. People actually cared about what Louis had to say. It was awesome.

The first year and a half he would balance working long hours alongside Niall at his family’s restaurant and putting together outfits, posing for a camera on a tripod, and typing up reviews and recommendations on brands.

But that changed when he was included in a ‘Top 20 Male Fashion Bloggers You Should Be Following’ article. Not only was his follower count affected incredibly positively, but brands started to contact him, asking him if  _they_ could send  _him_  stuff to post about. Louis was so used to divvying up his paycheck each month and buying only a few pieces, that he was so shocked that he was not only going to be sent free clothes, shoes, and accessories, but he would get paid to post about it, too.

He did make sure early on that this blog was  _his_ , and he would be able to write and post about whatever he wanted. Mainly, he didn’t want to be told he was losing a brand deal if they went on his Instagram to find a bunch of rainbows and him asking his followers what LGBTQ+ content they want to see next. Thankfully, no brand has outright not wanted to work with him, and his follower count shot through the roof once he decided to dedicate one blog post a week to being LGBTQ+ themed.

He called Lottie in hysterics, and she just laughed at him asking how in the world did he think she was able to buy so many nice things on top of being able to obtain nearly every new makeup release. Louis knew that people could have this as a job, knew it had worked for his sister, but he somehow didn’t think it happened to people who just liked fashion, and especially not boys who liked fashion. Truthfully, he thought this was only a thing that happened with models since, you know, they model clothes, and celebrities who already have a large following. But Lottie had sat him down and showed him some of the biggest fashion bloggers, some even had a bigger following than some celebrities, which was bizarre. And one of them was a guy. A guy named Harry Styles who, of course, with a name like that, had to be as stylish as he was. But Louis didn't let her know that he's been following Harry since before he even started his blog.

His obsession started early on, though he is very adamant about the fact that it  _isn’t_ an obsession, just an admiration. Definitely. Louis checks his blog and social media daily. For inspiration. Nothing more! That’s been part of his morning routine for over a year now; check his own blog, reply to questions, check his Instagram and Twitter, reply to people, check out any news regarding fashion, and then check Harry’s blog (he didn’t have to check Harry’s social media—he may or may not have his post notifications on).

If he’s honest, he’s a bit jealous of the large following Harry has. Their blogging styles are very different; Harry seems to focus more on the photography and styling things just right, while Louis spends more time writing up reviews and talking at length about what he loves and doesn’t about different brands or collections. Of course, he tries to capture the looks he puts together well and makes sure the photos of the pieces are good quality, otherwise all his writing is for nothing if people can’t see what he’s describing.

He won’t outright say that a lot of Harry’s following is a direct result of his looks, but it totally is. The man looks like he was crafted by all the gods in the sky. He’s got the perfect body, one every guy dreams of having. His arms and torso are littered with tattoos, and his chocolate curls reach his shoulders and always look soft to the touch. So Louis feels he just has a bit of an unfair advantage, okay?

Louis is shocked out of his thoughts when his phone vibrates in his hand. Looking down, he reads the text Lottie sent asking if she should begin the wedding planning.  
  
He rolls his eyes as he replies with numerous middle finger emojis. Setting his phone down, he strolls the small distance to the kitchen area of his studio apartment and removes the pan of chicken nuggets from the oven. Yes, this had been his dinner multiple nights a week when he was ten and his family was living paycheck to paycheck. No, he will not stop eating them even though they likely have zero nutritional value and cost less than three bucks at the corner store.

Louis settles himself back on the couch after grabbing a beer. He texts Niall that he’s about to start up Netflix and if he doesn’t hurry he’s going to miss Black Mirror and his half of the nuggets are going to get cold. Less than five minutes later, Niall is letting himself into his apartment and they spend the night binge watching the new season of Black Mirror. He doesn’t mention the fact that Harry followed him until his phone vibrates from its place between the couch cushions and Niall grabs it and teases Louis about how Harry followed him on Instagram, too. Louis blames Harry for the ten minutes of Niall making fun of how wide his eyes got and how much his cheeks flushed at this new knowledge before Louis kicked him out.

 

△

 

“Tommo, are you even listening?” Niall asks with a mouthful of cheese fries.

Louis looks up from his phone, noticing that no, he really wasn’t listening. He was too busy watching Harry’s Instagram story over and over again. He’s unboxing a pair of Gucci Rainbow Loafers and he’s smiling so wide that his cheeks are dimpling. He’s sure that his face probably has a matching smile as he clicks the left side of the screen so the video keeps playing on loop.

Niall is not impressed, giving him a bored look while trying to navigate the fry in his hand into the ranch dressing and into his mouth. He misses and gets ranch all over his cheek, making Louis laugh.

He looks back down to his phone once more before locking it and pushing it to the side. “Okay, sorry. What were you saying?”

Niall just rolls his eyes. “What did Harry do now?”

Louis clears his throat and reaches for his beer, taking a sip before trying to be nonchalant. “I don’t know? I was, uh, reading comments,” he says with a nod of his head. That was a good save.

Niall still looks unimpressed. “You weren’t, your phone lit up and I know you’ve long since turned off your notifications for comments and likes and shit. However, you do have notifications on for whenever Harry posts.”

Louis is trying his best to hide his blushing cheeks, propping one elbow on the table and covering half of his face with his hand.

“He just, uh, got some cool shoes. That’s it. Really like them.”

Niall just laughs loudly and takes another swig of his beer. “Do you really like him? As in, you don’t just want to have him sit on your fa-”

Louis coughs loudly, making a poor attempt to keep the beer from spewing out of his mouth with his hand. “Ni, you can’t just,” Louis looks around, making sure nobody heard him. With how loud he is he really can’t see how nobody has, but Niall is just cackling loudly, gaining a few stares.

“Can we not talk about this?” Louis pleads.

“Yeah, alright. You know I’m just fucking with you.”

“Mhm. Anyway, how’s the writing sessions going?” Louis asks.

Niall tells him all about how the song he was writing with Marren Morris for her upcoming album ended up being around ten songs, and that she’s considering including at least three of them for the album. Louis has always supported Niall’s love of songwriting, even throughout college when they were working at his family's restaurant and he would find Niall in a supply closet typing away on his phone instead of helping him with taking orders.

They keep talking even after another round is brought by and the crowded bar gets more noisy. Niall eventually excuses himself to go to the bathroom, which makes sense really. He somehow has already drank twice as much as Louis has.

After Niall gets up, Louis decides to check his phone. He’d posted a blog post earlier about LGBTQ+ brands and he wanted to see how people were liking it. He looked through the comments on his Instagram post about it, the comments were filled with several combinations of thank you’s and rainbow flags. That makes him smile, he loves bringing attention to his fellow LGBTQ+ people, especially when they are underrated most of the time.

He goes to Twitter next, deciding to save the actual comments from the post until later when he’s on his computer. His smile grows when he sees that at the top of his notifications is a like on the tweet about the post from Harry. That’s nice of him, they’ve been exchanging Instagram and Twitter likes for the past two days. But somehow this means more.

Louis scrolls through, liking some tweets from his followers and replying to some people. He’s just about to set his phone back down, but he decides to refresh his notification tab once more. Niall has just sat down with more drinks when he sees it, his eyes widen and his mouth falls open, and he can hear Niall making an inquisitive sound, but he can’t take his eyes of the screen.

**“@harrystyles: What a cool and informative post, some of my favorite brands are on here! Everyone check it out! :)”**

**“@harrystyles: And while you’re at it, follow Louis, he’s an amazing writer and his style isn’t too bad either. ;)”**

“Lou, are you good?”

Suddenly Niall reaches across the table and gives his arm a shake, making his phone topple out of his hands and land on the table loudly.

Louis looks up at him and attempts to tell him what’s just happened, but the only thing that comes out of his mouth is garbled nonsense.

Niall takes things into his own hands—literally—and grabs his phone and begins reading the tweets out loud. After he’s finished and puts Louis’ phone down, Louis still not saying anything, he just starts laughing. Again.

“You’ve got it bad, mate. I meet celebrities and write songs with them and I’m not even like this around them, and they’re  _actually_  famous.”

“It’s not... I’m not. He’s-”

“You're never like this. Not even your Chad Michael Murray obsession was this intense. I just can’t figure out why this is different.”

“Me either,” Louis whines as he drops his head into his hands. “He’s perfect,” he mumbles, hands still covering his face.

“What?” Niall asks amusedly.

“He’s perfect, I’ve literally never seen anyone as perfect as him.” Louis puts his head in his hands once more. “I don’t know how to act.”

“Well he seems to like your writing, maybe say thanks, as a start.” Niall suggests as if it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.

Louis lets out a dramatic sigh and reaches for his phone. He unlocks it, and when the two tweets appear on the screen he reaches for the drink Niall had brought over. He downs the entire thing before picking his phone back up.

He doesn’t know what to tweet back, he doesn’t want to say too much and he doesn’t want to come off as rude, so he settles for liking the tweets from Harry and replying with something simple.

**“@louistomlinson: Thank you! Happy you liked it :)”**

Niall agrees that it’s okay so he tweets it then puts his phone in the pocket of his hoodie so he can enjoy the rest of dinner. Which starts with a second round of appetizers and a third—or fourth, who knows at this point—round of drinks.

 

△

 

He and Niall must have gotten absolutely trashed last night because he hardly remembers it as he sits up in his bed and looks around. At least he made it home. And to his bed. That doesn’t always happen. He searches around for his phone, and after not finding it in the bed or on his bedside table, he assumes it’s in his jeans that are on the floor.

Louis drags himself out of bed and picks his jeans up off the floor, feeling around in the pockets until he locates his phone. He tries to unlock it but it’s dead, so he plugs it in to charge before he heads to take a shower.

He spends longer than he normally does just standing under the stream of relaxing, hot water. He scrubs his body and hair before getting out and drying off. He looks in the mirror for a bit, messing around with his damp hair. He’s been wanting to change it up a bit, maybe he’ll text his hair stylist and ask her if she has openings this week.

After leaving the bathroom and throwing on some joggers and a t-shirt he grabs his phone and makes his way to the kitchen. He answers a few text messages and emails while he eats a bowl of cereal.

He decides to just go for it and texts Krystale to see if she has any openings for an appointment this week. She does, in fact, and she says she’s excited to do something different than she normally does. He trusts her, so hopefully he doesn’t look awful afterward or he’ll have to crop his head out of every photo he posts.

He pulls up Twitter then to do his usual catching up. Everyone is still loving the post, and he’s so glad. He worked hard researching for it. However, he comes across two tweets from Harry, and apparently he’s already liked and replied to them. He sits there a moment, stumped, but then it’s all coming back to him, his (alcohol induced, he’s sure of it) freakout about it last night at the bar. God, how embarrassing.

He doesn’t even want to look at them anymore, so he goes to his DMs to see if there’s anything he can reply to, sometimes his followers ask him questions there and even brands sometimes contact him through DM even though his email is listed in his bio.

But at the top is Harry’s name. The only thing faster than the speed at which he clicked on the DM is his heart rate as he reads it. It feels as if it’s pounding out of his chest.

**Harry Styles:** Hiiii. I realized after I tweeted that that you may not know I was kidding, so when I said your style wasn’t too bad that wasn’t like, a dig. I was just trying to be funny. I actually really like your style. So, I’m sorry if you got offended or anything. Totally wasn’t my intention. xxx

Oh, god. He’s kind and endearing as fuck, too? Louis groans loudly, perhaps a tad dramatic, but how does someone like Harry even  _exist_ in the real world? He must have made a deal with the devil, that’s truly the only explanation for all of this nonsense.

This must have been sent last night, so it’s an appropriate time to respond, right? Well, he’s already been replying to tweets so he’d look like a bit of a dick if he didn’t.

He taps his fingers on the sides of his phone as he thinks of what to say. He doesn’t want to sound dismissive but he definitely doesn’t want to sound too eager. He racks his brain for a few minutes until he just decides on something.

_No, no didn’t think that at all! I can definitely take a joke, haha! And thank you! Your style is amazing as well, can’t really compete there!_

Louis exits Twitter and sends a text to Lottie telling her about everything with Harry. He then goes off to change into something warmer and grab his backpack so he can run by the post office to pick up a few packages for his newest brand deal with Polari. Then he’ll be off to hang out at his Mom’s with the twins so she can take the older twins to the dentist.

 

△

 

He ended up being at his Mom’s longer than originally planned. The twins (both sets) had begged him to stay for dinner—which didn’t require much begging if he’s honest, he’d rather eat a meal cooked by his mom than some take-out he has way too often. Lottie had also threatened to kill him if he left before she got there. She made him tell her about Harry, and he may have left out the DM, only because he truly had no idea what it meant, if anything. So he just didn’t mention it.

He’s nearing his stop on the subway and decides to check Twitter again. He’s surprised to see a message from Harry. He figured that after his reply, the conversation would be done because why would Harry want to talk to  _him_? The direct message read:

**Harry Styles:** Thank you, Louis! I have actually bought quite a few items per your recommendations. When it comes to buying and styling more lounge-y, streetwear stuff, you’re a big help. :)

And that’s a shock, to say the least. He didn’t think Harry Styles would be taking fashion advice from  _anyone_ , especially him. But he guesses he’s at least in the right place for that specific kind of inspiration.

Louis waits until he’s back in his apartment and all ready for bed before responding, not wanting to sound too eager.

He pulls up Twitter in a new tab on his laptop and types out his reply.

_No way really? That’s awesome. Never expected someone like you to look to me for advice, haha._

Oh god, what if he thinks he’s insulting him. ‘Someone like you’ does sound a bit rude, Louis is really shit at this.

_I mean that in the nicest way possible btw._

He decides to close out Twitter after that, putting his laptop on the floor beside his bed and brings up Netflix on his TV for the next episode of Mindhunter.

He’s made it through two-thirds of the episode before he’s itching to see if Harry replied. He had long since turned off his notifications for Twitter and Instagram since he gets a lot of them and the incessant buzzing of his phone quickly annoyed him. So when Harry replies it doesn’t light his phone up like a text message would.

The anticipation for a notification that would never come is too much. He picks up his phone from his bedside table and opens his DMs. Seeing that Harry has not replied, he sighs much too dramatically and goes to close out the app, but that’s when Harry decides to reply.

**Harry Styles:** Well of course! What’d you think of my pairing the Kappa track pants with the leather jacket? Too much? Haha. Not going to lie, I hadn’t seen Kappa around much since Sporty Spice days, so when you started talking about it and wearing it I immediately bought like 5 pieces!

Louis unconsciously smiles as he reads the message, not even having to think about what look he was talking about. He did really like the outfit. The first time he’d seen Harry in a leather jacket he’d nearly lost it, calling Lottie and whining about how boys like him weren’t allowed to look good in both soft colors and leather jackets (and pants—god, the leather pants nearly gave Louis a heart attack).

Thinking about the outfit nearly causes Louis to miss the actual meaning of what Harry had just said, that when Louis had started wearing and talking about Kappa, Harry says he went and bought Kappa. That’s it, no questions asked.

Now, the rise in popularity of this type of street style—the loungewear/activewear focus had been coming whether Louis had a say in it or not, but he does like to think he was a bit ahead of it in terms of some brands. Namely, Kappa. He’d had a few vintage Kappa tracksuits he’d found online for a couple of years, and when he caught wind of the new trend, he thought he could try and incorporate them into outfits rather than just lounging around the house in them.

It really started with just throwing on the tracksuit bottoms with some converse and a white t-shirt, and he got a lot of comments on how cool and vintage they looked. He then began wearing the jackets as well and then started looking into the stuff Kappa was putting out currently, and he really loved it. So, he bought a bunch, did a post about the brand, and has been doing brand deals with them ever since.

And yeah, if Kappa contacted him for a brand deal, they definitely contacted other bloggers and celebrities and that was how the brand got around into so many closets. But he was one of the firsts to bring it back, he’s sure of it. He’d never say that out loud though, that’d just make him sound like a pretentious prick.

He types out a reply without much thought, a lot of the nerves dissapaiting after seeing that Harry seemed to have been following him in some capacity for a while—yes, he wanted to impress him because he was literally the most beautiful human Louis has ever seen, but he already kind of has an idea of Louis’ personality from his blog so he doesn’t want to try too hard and mess it up.

_Oh, really loved that look! Can’t believe you trust my opinion on clothes so much, haha. Can say the same about you, though really. Gucci has been growing on me lately for some reason. I can’t imagine why! ;)_

“Oh, fuck,” Louis whispers. He’d typed the winky face without thought and pressed send. Now the nerves are back. He hopes Harry doesn’t think he’s a creep.

He sighs and turns over in his bed, sheets rustling beneath him. He plugs in his phone and turns it face down on his bedside table, out of sight and out of mind and all that. He then rewinds the episode back to where he was before he saw Harry’s message and resumes watching until he falls asleep.

 

△

 

“I’m truly surprised you have yet to shit your pants over this,” Lottie says as she pours herself a glass of water. "You jump three feet into the air every time you get a text."

“Charlotte, watch your mouth!” his mom admonishes as she walks in with a twin on each hip.

“Sorry,” she replies without sounding the least bit apologetic.

Louis tries to keep the twins occupied as they sit on either side of him at the bar while his mom cuts up and plates the sandwiches and fruit she’d laid out before going to gather the twins from the play room.

“What are you guys even talking about?” Jay asks.

“Nothing,” he tells her at the same time that Lottie says, “Louis’ boyfriend.”

His eyes grow wide, matching his mother’s.

“He isn’t my boyfriend, Mom. You know I would tell you if I had a boyfriend,” he assures her as he tries to prevent Ernest from spilling his juice down his shirt.

“I believe you, Lou.”

“You shouldn’t,” Lottie says under her breath.

Louis rolls his eyes. “You know he isn’t, Lotts.”

“You want him to be,” she shoots back, and he can’t really argue with that one. That’s more of a dream really. Definitely not a goal.

“Who are we talking about?” Jay asks confusedly.

“This guy, Harry,” Louis says as Lottie shoves her phone in her face, presumably showing her pictures.

“Oh, wow, Lou,” she says, scrolling on Lottie’s phone as Lottie stands beside her smirking at Louis.

“I know,” he whines as he drops his face to his hands.

“What’s wrong, Achoo?” Doris asks, nearly smearing her sticky fingers on his hoodie.

He grabs her hand and wipes it off with a napkin before giving a kiss to her palm. “Nothing, sweetheart. Achoo’s just being silly.”

She seems to deem his answer suitable, because she goes back to eating her lunch.

His mom is looking at him intently, like she’s expecting him to elaborate. He really doesn’t want to though, because if he’s honest, he doesn’t know what the fuck is going on either.

It’s at that time that his phone lights up with a text from Harry, which, that’s something new that’s happened. They exchanged numbers after agreeing that it would be easier than talking over Twitter. It’s been a lot of talking about fashion and favorite brands, and what blog post ideas they have. But it’s also been a lot of getting to know each other outside careers and their shared love of fashion. They talk about favorite movies and music, food and sports, family and friends. Nearly everything under the sun and he feels like he’s learned more about Harry in the last week and a half than he knows about some of his friends he’s known for years. Like he can’t say he knows Niall’s top five favorite songs, but he can name Harry’s. Which may or may not be weird depending on if he specifies that he knows them off the top of his head rather than looking back to the message. But he just has a good memory, okay?

He smiles softly at his screen, shaking his head. Harry had sent a picture of his feet, and on his boots were little pieces of tape labeled ‘left’ and ‘right’. 

“We’re just friends, Mom. We’ve been texting a bit, he blogs too so we’ve been talking about fashion and blog posts and stuff.” He begins to pick at his nails, a nervous habit of his that has been around since he was little. “Like, obviously he’s beautiful, but we’re just friends, I think.”

“You think?” Jay asks with a doubtful tilt of her head.

Louis sighs dramatically. “I don’t know,” he whines. “Don’t make me overthink it please.”

“I won’t darling, just be careful with your heart,” she says, kissing him on the head and then picking up Ernest, who at this point is just finger painting on the counter with the jelly from his sandwich.

“I will,” Louis says, then looks to Lottie who is standing on the other side of the counter pretending not to listen as she types away on her phone.

She pockets her phone after a minute and walks around the counter to pick up Doris. “Tommy’s here, Mom. We’re going to take the girls to their friend's house on our way back to his place,” she says as she bounces Doris exaggeratedly on her hip to distract her from the fact that she’s trying to wipe the food off of her face and hands.

“Okay, sweetie. Tell Tommy I say hi.”

“Will do.” She plops Doris down on the ground and watches as she takes off to the hallway to presumably pester the puppies in their fenced off area.

“Bye, Lou. Tell Harry I say hi,” she laughs as she grabs her bag and walks to the back door.

“Definitely won’t be doing that,” he yells as he hears the door close.

“Why are all my children so loud? Shouldn’t you grow out of that eventually?” Jay says, wiping down the counter and throwing the rag over the side of the sink.

“Oh, please. We all know how loud you get after a glass of champagne or two. This is all  _your_ fault,” Louis laughs.

Jay sighs. “I bring you into this world and all you do is mock me.” She playfully rolls her eyes. “We don’t talk about me after a drink or two, she and I are not the same person,” she says seriously.

Louis cackles loudly. “I really am your son.”  
  
“Don’t doubt it for a second.” Jay smirks, then sighs and looks worriedly at the kitchen entrance as the sound of barking increases. “I’m going to go make sure Doris isn’t biting Barney again.” She begins to walk off, shaking her head.

“Uh... Don’t you mean-”

“No,” she cuts him off. “She’s bit him twice already. And he’s yet to bite anyone.”

Louis looks at her as if she’s grown a second head, then burst into laughter. “And on that note, it’s my time to go!” he says as he gets up.

“See you later, Lou. Be careful. Love you,” she says as she exits the kitchen.

Louis grabs his phone from the counter and makes his way toward the back door. He sees Lottie texted him five minutes ago.

**Lotts:**  Shame she doesn’t know how long you’ve been obsessed with him. Just friends, my ass.

He rolls his eyes and ignores her message in favor of replying to Harry.

 

△

 

Over the next week, he gets a lot of work done. He’s been working on revamping his blog a bit, with the help of a friend of Fizzy’s who's studying graphic design. He has a whole new layout for his blog and it looks more  _him_ , in a way. He also decides to change all of his profile photos across all of his social media platforms to a more recent photo from a lookbook, and asked his followers what kind of new or different content they wanted to see.

It was overwhelming how many people wanted to see lookbook or style videos rather than posts, which seemed a tad daunting a first. But after doing some test shoots with a new friend of his he met through social media named Steve, who is crazy talented when it comes to photography, he’d gotten more confident. He’s been playing around with editing the video for three days, and he estimates another few days until he’s fully confident in posting it, but he thinks that this might be a new thing for him—he may start doing videos more often. Especially if the response is always as positive as the feedback he’s getting right now from posting a little sneak peek on Instagram.

Harry texts him nearly an hour after it’s posted, sounding almost more excited about it than Louis was.

**Harry Styles:** Are you kidding me, Lou? It’s not nothing, it’s amazing!

**Harry Styles:** The shots are so cool and the editing is SO GOOD! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?

It means more coming from him than it does most other people, not just because of his ‘massive crush’ as both Niall and Lottie call it, but because he and Harry are in the same line of work, so to speak. They’re both fashion bloggers and if someone who is on the same level as him (though Louis insists Harry is more than a couple of ranks higher, because  _come on_ ) loves something Louis created, it makes him feel validated in a weird way. And it also makes him all giddy because of the crush, but he’s ignoring that.

He decides to take a break from working and goes to get coffee, deciding on his way to text Niall to see if he’s still at the studio and if he wants coffee as well. He texts back a simple ‘Yes’ just as Louis is ordering and he assumes that’s a reply to both questions so he orders him a coffee as well.

Louis pockets his phone and grabs both coffees then makes his way to leave. As he’s nearing the door, he hears a loud squawk of a laugh to his right that startles him. He whips his head around to see where the noise came from. He sees the back of a guy’s head and another guy sitting across from him. The other guy is looking around, as if to see how much of a disturbance his friend caused, but when his eyes meet Louis’, they grow wide and immediately shift down to meet the eyes of his friend.

He turns and steps out the door as someone who had just entered holds it for him and then walks the couple of blocks to the studio where Niall is writing today.

It seems as if they’re taking a break when he arrives; the door is open and the only one in the studio is Niall.

“Hey, Tommo! Thanks, man.” He takes the drink from Louis’ hands and begins drinking. “Sit down, Marren just ran to grab coffee with a friend so I’m free for half an hour probably.” He takes another drink of his coffee, and sets it on the coffee table. “So, what’s up? How’s work going? Saw your video on Insta, that was sick!”  
  
“Good, good. Needed a bit of a break before I switched to answering emails, but thank you, Ni. Everyone’s been loving it, so I’m excited to finish. How’s writing?”

“Shit,” Niall says through a laugh. “We can’t work out the lines to go with the melodies quite right, so we’re going to start on another song when she gets back. Starting fresh and all that.”

Louis nods and takes another sip of his coffee. His phone lights up on the table, and he’d ignore it normally, but it seems to be a double text from Harry. He’d texted Louis earlier this morning after raving about his video that he was about to do something important, and to wish him luck. So he did, even though he has no idea at all what Harry was talking about. He’s very curious, so he picks up his phone and unlocks it.

“That Harry?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, he just... Wait,  _what_?” He rereads the messages three times before looking up at Niall with wide eyes.

Niall is looking at Louis like he’s going crazy and he honestly feels like he is. “What’d he say, then?”

“I...” Louis looks down at his phone once more and reads the texts again. Before showing it to Niall.

**Harry Styles:** Can’t believe you would just walk right past me without saying hi! :(

**Harry Styles:** Is our friendship strictly digital? This should have been in the terms and conditions. Can we renegotiate? I want to renegotiate.

Niall gasps dramatically, hand clutching his chest. “You saw him? Where? When? And you ignored him? What is wrong with you! Ignoring him is the least effective way of getting in his pants! Unless your playing hard to get, which-”

“Niall!” he shouts to cut him off. “I’m not trying to get in his pants! And I didn’t ignore him! I have no clue what he’s talking about!” He thinks back, and he doesn’t remember seeing Harry on his walk here or in the coffee shop? He definitely would have recognized his curly head anywhere, so maybe he either didn’t see him or Harry has mistaken someone else for him?

_What??? I haven’t seen you? Definitely would have said hi if so!_

He types the message out and sends it, already seeing the little grey dots pop up to indicate Harry is typing.

**Harry Styles:** I’m kidding :) I know you probably didn’t see me, and even if you had you wouldn’t have noticed me, probably. But the friend I was with said he did see you, you looked right at him.

“The guy at the coffee shop!” The realization hits him and he startles Niall with how loud he is.

“Harry was at the coffee shop? Dude, why didn’t you talk to him?” Niall lightly backhands his arm and shakes his head.

“I didn’t know, he cut his hair,” he gasps, turning to grab Niall’s arm. “Harry cut his hair! His curls are gone! Niall, they’re  _gone_!”

“Is it that serio-”

“Yes, It is. I loved them,” he mumbles petulantly.

His phone lights up again, this time with a picture of the back of Harry’s head and a text following it.

**Harry Styles:** This is what you probably saw, doesn’t really look like the Harry you would have recognized. ;)

Louis is full on pouting at this point, bottom lip poking out and everything.

_RIP curls, you are so terribly missed already._ He sends, adding several broken heart and crying emojis.

“I cannot believe he did that.”

“It’s his hair, he can cut it if he wants,” Niall laughs.

“Yeah, but...” He sighs, relaxing back into the couch. “But I loved it so much.”

“Yeah, yeah. Weirdo. Marren is on her way back, so unless you want to listen to us ramble on about-”

“Nope! I’m out! I’d quite literally rather die than listen to you guys talk about your heterosexual love stories,” he says with a gag. “Bye, Niall! Don’t bother me for the rest of the day, I will be in mourning.”

Niall is just cackling loudly at him as he makes his way out of the studio and onto the street.

Louis checks his phone once more, seeing Harry sent him a photo of him holding a braid. Presumably his hair that he just cut, but he looks so, so cute still. Even with short hair. Louis stops walking and backs up against the wall so he isn’t in anyone’s way just so he can look at the picture for a bit longer. Harry’s cute little ears are more visible with short hair, and he’s just so cute that it physically pains him.

The text that comes along with it says,

**Harry Styles:** It was for a good cause, and it was time for a change. What do you think?

He wants to tell him that he looks beautiful and he would look beautiful no matter what he decided to do to his hair, but that’s coming on a bit strong, so he just settles for,

_Ehh, not bad Styles! The long hair was pretty great, hard to top that._

**Harry Styles:** No worries, it’ll make a come back. No more hair cuts besides a trim here and there. I’m growing it back out!

Louis just replies with a stream of celebratory emojis and begins walking back to his apartment.

 

△

 

A week later finds Louis enjoying the calm before the storm that is NYFW. That’s what Harry and Louis are talking about a lot these days, doing minimal work before it comes down to prepping for all the chaos that is trying to balance attending and enjoying shows and documenting them for work. Which is exciting, and Louis is so lucky to be able to have a job that pays the bills that he would definitely be doing as a hobby anyway had he been forced to work a different job.

He’s been texting non-stop with Harry all day about a sort of collab blog post they’re going to do. It’s not really any sort of collaboration, it’s just the two of them doing the exact same post (outfit ideas for fashion week and what they’re most excited to see) and mentioning each other in it so that their respective followers can pay the other’s blog a visit, but they’ve been talking about it together since the late afternoon and it’s nearing 11 PM.

Harry has apparently been drinking wine straight from the bottle, “because it’s Saturday and if I’m working on a Saturday night I’m going to have fun!” So the conversation keeps straying and Harry’s ability to form coherent sentences over text message has steadily decreased over time.  

Louis had thought it was a bit weird that Harry suggest they work on it together today—over text. Because, they live in the same city and seem to be free other than working on the post. But, maybe they aren’t as close as Louis thought they were? It’s only been about a month and a half of talking to each other, but Harry must not feel like they’re friends enough to hang out and work on this together, and he definitely doesn’t want to be the one to ask and have Harry awkwardly turn him down.

So Louis is sat on his couch in his apartment, however many blocks from Harry’s apartment where he’s presumably doing the same thing except he's tipsy, well on his way to getting drunk.

They’re nearly finished with the first draft of their posts when he gets a call. He hasn't received a reply to his last text for around twenty minutes, so he assumed Harry either fell asleep or found something better to do. So when he answers the phone, the last thing he expects to hear is the sound of Harry’s voice.

“Um.” There’s a bit noise after that, like someone dropped the phone or something. And then, “Uhhhh... Oops,” Louis hears his deep voice say. He’s only ever heard him speak on his Instagram videos and Snapchat, where he’s either talking to friends or addressing his followers. Which, he supposes includes him, but  _still_. Harry is talking to  _him_. He feels frozen to the spot, not knowing what to say.

“Hi,” Louis says, a bit breathless, which is silly because this is Harry, he was literally just talking to him, but somehow this is a new level of pressure he was not at all prepared for. How in the hell did he think he would be able to hang out with him in person?

“Louis?” Harry questions, pulling Louis out of his thoughts.

“Yeah? Sorry, what?”

“Uh, I was just saying I didn’t mean to call you,” Harry says, speaking slowly. “I unlocked my phone to reply to your text and dropped it and I guess when I tried to catch it, I called you by mistake.”

“Oh, right.” Of course it was a mistake, Harry wouldn’t call him on purpose.

“I can let you go, get back to working, unless…” he trails off.

“Unless?” Louis asks with too much optimism.

“I mean, this is easier than texting, right? And we were just finishing up anyway. So we could, like, just keep talking on the phone, if that’s okay? Unless you’re busy doing something else or-”

“No! No, I’m not, that’s great. Let’s talk,” he rushes out. “Hi,” he says, again with a sigh, bringing his hand up to cover his face.

“You already said that,” Harry says through giggles, and he can’t even get himself to think about the fact that he’s laughing at him for being weird, because that’s probably the cutest sound he’s ever heard in his life. And he grew up in a house where there was almost always at least one baby who giggled nearly half the day. He was not ready for this.

“Sorry,” he laughs. “I swear I’m not always this weird.” No, you just make my brain turn to mush and my heart beat ten times faster.

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it,” Harry says.

“You sound sufficiently less drunk than I was lead to believe.”

“Oh, yeah. I only ended up drinking about two glasses. I was already getting sleepy,” he giggles.

“Oh, you should sleep then,” Louis says, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “We can finish up tomorrow, or whenever.”

“Mmmm,” Harry hums, and Louis hears him shuffling around. “No, we can talk. I’m getting in bed though. No more work for me.”

They end up talking for well over an hour, almost two. Louis assumed Harry would have knocked out by now, but he’s so happy he hasn’t. They’ve talked about so much, from silly stuff like favorite pizza toppings, where the best hotdog stand in the city is, and if denim on denim is  _really_ okay to wear or not (it's only okay if the denim's are opposite washes) to deep stuff like when they realized they were gay and how they came out.

Harry’s voice has gotten softer as the phone call progresses, and he assumes he’s sounding sleepy himself. He’s moved to his bed as well and is just laying on his side, staring out his window at the city lights.

They both go quiet for a moment, the short bits of silence they’ve shared thus far never being awkward like it would be with anyone else.

“Lou?” Harry says, and, that’s new. He hopes it stays, it makes him feel warm all over.

“Yeah, Haz?” he says, allowing the nickname to finally slip after stopping himself the first couple of times.

“Can I tell you something?”  
  
“Of course.”

“I’ve liked you for a long time,” he whispers, so faint that Louis almost doesn’t hear it at all.

Louis lets out an uncomfortable laugh, "Well, I hope you have, since we're friends and all." He says trying to cover up his nerves, Harry can't really mean it any other way, can he?

"No, uh. Of course, Lou. But I  _really_  like you. Like," he pauses and sighs, "Like more than a friend."

“What?" He replies faintly, "You said a long time? What do you mean, Harry?”

“Do you remember when you made that lookbook, the one where you styled outfits that were rainbow and the title of the blog post was something funny like 'How To Wear Rainbows Without Looking Like You Were Dressed By A Kindergartner?'"

And, yeah. He does remember that. It was one of his first lookbooks. Definitely in his first year of his blog. He laughs a tad, “yeah, I remember it. Why?”

“I found your blog from that post, actually,” he replies quietly. “I’ve been kind of following you ever since.”  
  
Louis is dumbfounded, he doesn’t know what to say. How is it possible that Harry’s been aware of his blog since nearly the beginning?

“Um, Lou? Was that like too-”  
  
“No, um. I’m just surprised. Because it’s been the same way on my end. Except for I’ve been following you since before I started my blog.” He takes a deep breath, then adds on sheepishly, “Yours kind of gave me the little push over the edge to do it after my sister kept bugging me about it. Even though mine could never be as good or anything-”  
  
“Are you kidding me?” Harry interrupts. “I always read your posts  _wishing_ I could write as well as you.”

“Really? Your writing is great and your photos are amazing!”

“Well, I guess we underestimate ourselves a bit then,” Harry says with a laugh.

“Yeah... I guess so.”

“Um, feel free to say no and pretend I never asked if I totally read everything wrong but, would you like to get coffee sometime? Like, uh, as a date? A coffee date.” He huffs, “Obviously a coffee date, Jesus fuc-”

“Yes,” Louis cuts him off, trying to contain his giggles even though he could totally listen to a flustered Harry for another ten minutes probably. “Yes, please.”

He can hear Harry’s sigh of relief, and that makes his smile widen. “And for the record, I’ve been having a break-down since you tweeted about my article because of my giant fucking crush on you. So you're definitely not reading this wrong at all.”

“Good,” Harry says simply, then adds a bit quieter, “I’ve had a huge crush on you, too. The only thing that gave me enough courage to tweet you was my friend Liam threatening to take my phone and do it for me.” He pauses and joins in with Louis’ laughing. “And the only reason I had the nerve to DM you was because I wanted to make sure you didn’t hate me.”

“Well, I guess I should be thanking Liam then.”

“Yeah, guess so.” Louis can hear Harry take a deep breath. “So, when are you free for that coffee?”

“Um, anytime is good. Just not Wednesday, I’m babysitting my little siblings, I think.”

“Awww, that’s sweet of you.”  
  
“Yeah, they’re cute and all but they can be right demons when they want to be. Have you ever heard of a child biting a dog, and not the other way around?”

"What?" Harry asks through loud cackles. "There's no way that's happened."

"Oh yeah, more than once. They're little terrors. But they're fun" 

“Yeah, I bet,” Harry replies. “So, um. Would it be too soon to say tomorrow?”  
  
Louis’ stomach swoops at that. He would be seeing Harry tomorrow. In mere hours. “No, tomorrow is great.”

“Good.” It’s almost as if he can hear the smile in Harry’s voice. He can picture his dimples popping and, oh god, he’ll get to see his dimples tomorrow. And his little curls. How is he going to manage?  
  
“Um, Lou?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry, what?”  
  
Harry laughs again. “I just said maybe we could meet at the coffee shop where we almost met last week?”  
  
“Oh, yeah. That’d be great actually.”

“Okay, good,” Harry says, his response breaking off into a yawn.

“Okay, I’ve kept you up for far too long. It’s,” he pulls the phone away from his face to see that they’ve been talking for almost two and a half hours and it’s now nearing 2 AM. “It’s almost 2 in the morning, Haz, go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Mmmm, okay. Should we say 11 for coffee?”  
  
“11 it is. I’ll see you then. Sleep well,” Louis says softly.

“You, too. Goodnight, Lou.”

“Goodnight, Haz,” he responds with a smile taking over his face. He hangs up and rolls over in bed, shoving his huge smile into the pillow. He hasn’t felt this happy, happy enough to fall asleep with a smile on his face, in a long time.

 

△

 

Louis has been at the coffee shop for over half an hour before he begins to get the feeling that he’s being stood up. To be fair, he did arrive about 10 minutes early, but it’s nearly 30 minutes past the time they agreed on, and Harry is still nowhere to be seen.

Louis didn’t really think Harry would be the type to be late  _anywhere_ , so really the only thing running through his mind is that Harry decided he didn’t want to do this any longer.

His phone buzzes on the table and his heart leaps in his chest, because that must be Harry with an excuse as to why he’s late.

Louis picks his phone up and sees that, no, it’s just Niall replying to a panic text he forgot he sent only minutes ago. Niall tells him to calm down and just text Harry. Which, that is definitely out of the question, because if he is indeed being stood up, then how humiliating would that be? Harry would have to come up with a nice excuse as to why he can’t make it and they would both have to forget that this ever happened.

He stuffs his phone into the pocket of his jacket, picks up his now empty cup, and begins to get up. As soon as he lifts his gaze, he sees Harry rushing in. Nearly knocking right into a teenager trying to exit the coffee shop. He hastily apologizes to them, then all but runs over to the little corner of the shop where Louis has sat back down in the booth.

Louis doesn’t have much time to prepare himself, he’s still kind of in shock, almost. So, when Harry speaks, it takes him a second to reply.

“Hi, oh gosh, I am so sorry, Lou,” Harry says, trying to catch his breath. “I woke up late and then my sister showed up unannounced and I had to just let her in my apartment and leave her there.” He stops to catch his breath, looking at Louis and smiling sheepishly. “I’m sorry I’m late, I was going to text you but I seemed to have left my phone at home when I was trying to rush out the door.”

“I, um. I thought you weren’t coming. That you changed your mind or something.” Which is definitely not what Louis meant to say, just lay all those insecurities out, why don’t you.

Harry looks alarmed at this and reaches across the table to take Louis’ hand in his. “No. Louis, no. Of course I didn’t change my mind.” He squeezes Louis’ hand, and looks down at their now interlocked hands. “Actually, after we got off the phone last night, I couldn’t believe this was happening. And for a few minutes when I woke up, I wasn’t sure if I dreamt that entire conversation last night. And there weren't any text messages to look back to for proof, so I was honestly questioning my sanity for a bit,” He laughs a bit and Louis joins in because he honestly thought the same when he woke up.

“Well,” Louis starts, rubbing his thumb along the back of Harry’s hand. “I’m glad you didn’t dream it.”  
  
“Me too,” Harry says softly. “I’m going to grab a coffee. Do you want anything?”  
  
“Oh, no, I’ve drank mine already, I’m good. Thank you, though.”

“Okay, I’ll be back,” Harry says with a smile then goes to stand in the short line to order his coffee.

Louis pulls his phone out and shoots a text to Niall telling him that Harry did end up showing up, and he gets a reply saying that he knew he would. He returns his phone to his pocket in time for Harry to return, carrying a coffee, a bottle of water, and a small bag.

“So,” Harry says sitting back down. “I remember you said that you normally get a blueberry muffin, and that you’re hungry 100% of the time so I got you one.”

Louis smiles at him. “How’d you remember I said that? That was—it must have been at least two weeks ago.”  
  
Harry just shrugs. “I remember everything you tell me.”

Louis attempts to hide his smile by looking down and focusing on removing the muffin from the bag.

“You look great, by the way,” Louis comments, trying to go for nonchalance.

“Are you kidding?” Harry laughs, hand coming up to cover his mouth and keep the coffee from dribbling down his chin. “I can’t remember the last time I got dressed this quickly. I’m not even sure these jeans are  _clean_.”

Louis smiles. He does look gorgeous, though. His sweater is bright yellow and his fluffy curls are being held back by a pair of black sunglasses. He thinks he remembers seeing rips in the knees of his jeans and he’s, of course, wearing a pair of his Chelsea boots.

“I love the yellow, it’s really your color,” Louis says, breaking off a piece of his muffin and eating it, then uncapping the bottle of water Harry also brought him.

“Well, thank you. My sister said I looked like a bee, with the black stripes and all,” he laughs. “But you look amazing as well, the green kind of makes your eyes look more green than blue.”  
  
Louis can feel himself turning red; Harry paying that close attention to him makes him slightly nervous, but he can’t bring himself to dwell on that due to the eruption of butterflies in his stomach. A feeling he isn’t really used to. Neither of his past two boyfriends had ever made him feel like this, and certainly no fling or one night stand has either.  
  
Louis thanks him and takes another sip of his water, gathering the courage to ask Harry if he’s feeling the same way he is.

“Uh, sorry if this is weird to say, but this feels oddly easy. Like, I feel like I’ve known you for way longer than I have. It’s probably insane but-”  
  
“No,” Harry interrupts. “No, I feel the same way! Like, it’s like I feel this... this connection to you? I don’t know. Like ever since we started talking, it was all so easy, and it felt like we sort of clicked right away? And I’ve never really experienced that.” Harry brings his hand up and begins pulling on his lower lip. It seems like a nervous tick, but it just prevents Louis from looking anywhere but his lips.

“Yeah, exactly,” Louis says softly. “I’ve always been sort of worried I’d never find someone I would really connect with, like maybe I’d have to settle or something? But this is truly the most interested I’ve been in a person in a while, and this is literally our first date.”

Harry laughs, and moves his hand to rest on top of Louis’ on the table. “I’m so glad you feel the same way.”

They talk for another half an hour, and when they both decide they should be on their way, Louis walks him out, where they both wait on Harry’s Uber.

“I, um. This may be too much too soon or something, but a couple of friends and I are going out to celebrate my friend’s birthday tonight. It’s just going to be about four other people. Would you like to come?” Harry asks him, then begins chewing on his bottom lip, waiting for an answer.

Louis’ nerves of meeting people in Harry’s life is outweighed by his excitement that Harry wants to see him again, and so soon, too.

“Yeah, I’d love to. If you’re sure.”  
  
“I am,” Harry replies giddly, smiling wide.

Louis reaches up unconsciously and pokes his thumb in his right dimple. “Cute.”

Before he can remove his hand once he realizes how weird that probably is, Harry is taking hold of his hand, and tiling his cheek to rest in his palm. “You’re cuter,” he says then kisses his palm.

Harry keeps hold of his hand, but moves them so they’re resting by their sides. He inches closer, and that’s when Louis throws his caution to the wind.

Louis places his hand on the dip in Harry’s waist underneath his coat and brings their lips together in a soft, chaste kiss. He feels Harry begin to smile into the kiss, making him smile, and then they’re basically just clacking teeth, so Louis leans back and looks at Harry.

“I’m really glad I finally got the courage to talk to you,” Harry whispers, biting down on his smile.

“Me too, Haz.” Louis leans forward and kisses him once more. “Can’t believe we’re already being saps.”

Harry laughs softly and wraps his arms around Louis to hug him tight, then leans back again. “I think that’s okay.”

Louis just smiles and he sees a black car pull up on the street behind Harry. “Think that’s your car,” he points out.

Harry turns around to look, and when he looks back at Louis it’s with a pout on his face, which makes Louis laugh.

“Go hang out with your sister, I’ll see you tonight,” He tells him, kissing his pout away.

“I’ll text you my address, you can come by for a bit before we go out Maybe around 9?”  
  
“Okay, see you then” Louis says.

“Perfect.” He leans forward and kisses Louis again, running his tongue along the seam of Louis’ lips and licking into his mouth once Louis parts his lips. They’re getting carried away, Harry’s grip on him tightening, before he pulls back.

He’s a tad breathless when he speaks, lips shiny and deep red rather than soft and pink like they normally are. “Bye, Lou.”

Louis can’t help himself, he leans forward for one last kiss. “Bye, love,” he says against his lips. He can’t even second guess himself for letting the pet name slip, because Harry is beginning to blush and smile as he squeezes Louis’ hand one last time before walking to his car.

Louis watches it drive away, then begins the short walk to his apartment. He decides to pull up Instagram and scroll as he walks. When he refreshes the page after looking at what seemed to be fifty pictures, a photo appears that makes him stop in the doorway of his apartment. It was posted by Harry, and it’s of his and Louis’ paper coffee cups that had their names written on it. He didn’t notice Harry taking a picture. It must have been when he got up to go to the bathroom.

Harry tagged Louis in the photo, right where his name is written on the cup and the caption was a simple heart emoji. It makes Louis smile, even though it’s cheesy. He comments a heart emoji as well as the word ‘sneaky’.

Almost immediately he gets a text from Harry. 

**Harry Styles:** Sorry, had to let everyone know how lucky I am.

 

△

 

Louis is nervous, again. Walking to the coffee shop this morning, he couldn't stop thinking how the night before felt like a dream. And now, as he’s making his way up the stairs to Harry’s apartment, he’s really doubting this morning was real. He and Harry just clicked, much like they had when talking throughout the weeks before today, but in person it was just a whole other level.

He’d never felt so much for someone so quickly, so he’s sort of on edge, expecting things to get fucked up sooner or later. But for now, he’s going to enjoy tonight with Harry and his friends.

Louis knocks on the door once before it’s flying open. In the doorway stands a tall blonde girl, who looks incredibly familiar.

“Hi, love. You’re Louis, aren’t you?” she asks, extending her hand.

Louis takes it into his shakes it. “Yeah, I’m guessing this is Harry’s apartment, right?”

“Yes, yes. This is the one,” she replies, pulling him in and shutting the door. “I’m Cara, nice to meet you.”

It’s then that Louis recognizes her. She’s Cara Delevingne, the model. “Oh, my god,” he whispers in shock, and watches as she cackles loudly, clapping her hands together.

“Promise me you’ll treat me like a friend and not a celebrity, yeah?” she asks, and Louis is already nodding. “Good.”

“Lou!” He hears from further in the apartment, a voice that seems to resemble Harry’s but is so muffled by music and distance that he can’t be sure. He looks around and sees Harry making his way from the kitchen. Harry’s apartment is a studio much like his own, but there’s a large wall sectioning off the entryway, which blocks the view of the kitchen.

“Ugh, you don’t have to pounce on him as soon as he arrives, Harry. Have a little self-respect,” Cara says with a playful roll of her eyes.

“Fuck off,” Harry says as he reaches Louis. He seems to have been reaching out to touch him before thinking better of it and dropping his hands to his sides. “Hi, Lou.”

Louis smiles at him and tries not to think about it too much. “Hi.”  
  
“Gross,” Cara mumbles, as she moves around them to head into the kitchen, hiding her smile by sipping her drink.

Harry giggles into his cup and steps closer to Louis. “So glad you could come,” he says, reaching out and grabbing Louis’ hand.

“Me too,” he says with a squeeze to his hand.

“Come on, let’s get you introduced to everyone,” Harry says and turns around to lead him through the apartment by the hand.

He meets Harry’s best friend Liam, who’s birthday is today and is apparently the one that takes a lot of Harry’s photos, and who also saw him at the coffee shop the other week. He meets Liam’s boyfriend Zayn, who’s in the music business, and when he asks if he knows Niall, he surprisingly does, even though they work on music that are on opposite ends of the spectrum. They all tell Louis to send a text inviting Niall out, too.

He also meets Rita, another fashion blogger who he’s been following for a while, and who apparently has been following him as well.

They all have a few drinks before heading out to Therapy, a gay bar not too far from Harry’s apartment. Niall had sent his thanks for the invitation but was apparently on a tinder date with some guy named Shawn and would ‘give Louis the gay details later.’ Which... He doesn’t know if the fact that he isn’t surprised that Niall isn’t making a bigger deal about coming out is weird or not. But then again, it’s Niall.

Louis doesn’t plan to drink much more while they’re out. It’s still the first day even meeting Harry so he doesn’t want Drunk Louis to fuck this up somehow. But apparently Harry isn’t holding back; he orders both of them one of his favorite drinks as soon as they arrive and after they both finish, he drags him to the dance floor with another drink already in hand.

There’s enough alcohol in his bloodstream for him to not overthink his movements, so he grabs Harry by the hips while they both sway to the music. Even in the darkness of the club, he can’t take his eyes off of Harry’s bubblegum pink lips wrapped around the thin black straw of his mixed drink. When he sees the lips lift into a smirk, he snaps out of his daze and looks back up to Harry’s eyes that are full of mirth.

“You look so good, Lou,” Harry says, arms going around his shoulders.

He laughs a little. “So do you, love.” And he does, it’s almost ridiculous how he pulls off any outfit he puts on. He’s wearing a sweater that’s so thin that it’s basically sheer, with a black tank top underneath, paired with black jeans so tight they look painted on, and black Chelsea boots.  
  
Harry flushes prettily at his words, blush apparent even under the flashing lights.  

They continue dancing through a couple more songs, one very poppy and the other a dance remix.

Harry heads to the bar after that, saying he needs another drink. Louis talks with Rita a bit while he waits for Harry near the bar, who’s also waiting for Cara who’s getting them some shots. They chat for a bit, Louis complimenting her outfit, then they end up talking about NYFW, and plan to meet up to attend a show together if they can.

Rita excuses herself after that to go to the restroom and Louis tries to look for Harry amongst the people crowding the bar. He locates him eventually, leaning against the bar with Cara near the end of bar where there are less people. When he begins to approach them he notices the guy that’s standing close to Harry.

He stops and watches as Harry throws his head back in a laugh, then throws his arms around the taller guy and rests his face on his shoulder. He continues talking to him and Cara as he’s basically all over this guy.

Louis can feel his stomach sink. He knows he doesn’t have any reason to be angry about this, and he isn't. It just makes him feel weird. He and Harry aren’t together and even if they were, Harry can do as he pleases. But none of that matters right now as he watches the guy wind his arm around Harry’s back.

He needs some fresh air, so he pushes his way through the crowd of people. When he passes them, Harry calls out for him excitedly.

“Louuuu!” He untangles himself from the guy and nearly launches himself toward Louis.

Louis catches him around the middle and tries to prevent them both from falling.

“I lost you, was going to bring us drinks,” he shouts, still hugging Louis.

“Yeah, um. I couldn’t find you. Was going outside,” Louis says, placing his hands on Harry’s waist and trying to move him away from his body.

“Sorry,” he slurs. “Found Cara and Matt, though. Did some shots,” he says pointing at the two that are looking on amusedly.

“Yeah, I saw,” Louis replies, trying to keep his voice even.

“Yeah, oh!” Harry shouts, dragging Louis by the hand the few feet toward the bar. “Lou, this is Matt, Matt this is Lou.”  
  
Louis thrusts his hand out to be polite, “Hi.”  
  
Matt laughs a little. “Hi,” he replies, shaking his hand. “I’m Matt, Harry’s  _cousin_ ,” he emphasizes, giving Louis a knowing look.

Louis deflates a bit, not even realizing how stiff he was. He feels like an idiot now but it seems Harry is too tipsy, or drunk now, probably, to notice.

“Lou, let’s dance,” Harry whines, making him laugh, arm returning to Harry’s waist.

“Alright, let’s dance,” he turns around and leads them to a fairly open spot on the dance floor where Harry immediately starts swaying to the Rihanna song that’s playing.

Louis learns that the more alcohol that’s in Harry’s system, the more enthusiastic his dancing gets. He’s all flailing limbs and swirling hips. He’s also pretty clingy, which means when Harry moves, so does Louis.

Eventually Louis turns around and places Harry’s hands on his hips, which seems to be a better position because Louis can grind back into Harry’s crotch while moving them both to the beat of the song that’s playing.

Harry attaches his lips to his neck. “Love your ass, Lou,” he says, kissing and sucking lightly on the skin under his lips.

Louis huffs a laugh, grinding back into Harry with more force, and he can feel him hardening in his pants. “Thanks.”

They dance through another song or two, Harry steadily growing harder against Louis’ ass, before they decide to find Liam and the rest of their group to do a last round of birthday shots.

Louis does one shot, then leans on the back of the booth where they’re all sitting and watches everyone else besides Rita do two more. They both make eye contact, she rolls her eyes and he just laughs. A lot of the alcohol he’s had tonight is starting to wear off, so watching Drunk Harry is quite amusing. He’s still very clingy and his laugh is louder and more dramatic, and when he tries to lean in to whisper something in Louis’ ear, he seems to get distracted, cutting off his own sentence and begins to kiss and nibble on Louis neck.

“Lou, wanna go home,” he says, and Louis’ hand clenches reflexively where it’s placed on Harry’s thigh.

“Okay,” he says, looking at Harry, who has his head laid on his shoulder and is smiling wide. “You think you’re good to walk? Or should we get a cab?”  
  
“I can walk, if you’ll hold my hand and help me.”  
  
Louis laughs, tilting his head down to kiss Harry’s cheek. “I’ll hold your hand.”

Harry wraps his other hand around Louis’ waist and squeezes.

“Alright, lovebirds, you done being gross?” Cara teases from across the table.

“Leave me alone,” Harry pouts. “We’re leaving anyway.”

Cara cocks an eyebrow. “Oh, is that right?” she asks with a smirk.

“Yes, Cara. Goodbye,” he says, clumsily standing up and holding a hand out to Louis.

“Yeah, I’m gonna make sure he gets home alright,” Louis says, looking at the knowing looks all four of them are giving him. He playfully rolls his eyes at them. “Happy birthday, Liam. Tonight was fun. It was great meeting you all.”

“Happy birthday, Lime!” Harry practically screams, leaning over Zayn who’s at the end of the booth to give him a hug.

“Thanks, Harry. You, too, Louis. See you guys.”

“Please make sure he empties his bladder before he goes to bed. Sometime he drunk pisses himself and if he ruins another set of his stupidly expensive sheets he’ll have an aneurysm.”

“Caraaaaa,” Harry whines, stomping his feet like a god honest child throwing a fit. “Why did you tell him? That’s so embarrassing.” He buries his face in his hands and Louis just laughs.

“Babe, it’s fine. I’ve drunk pissed myself, too. We all have, it’s fine,” Louis says, rubbing his hand along Harry’s back.

“I most definitely haven’t d-” Liam starts, but Louis cuts him off.

“Alright! Let’s head out. You ready, H?” he asks, shooting the rest of them a smile.

“Yeah,” he says, reaching for Louis’ hand.

“Bye, guys,” Louis calls over his shoulder as Harry begins to tug him by the hand through the crowd. Once they’re outside, Harry plasters himself to Louis’ side, wrapping his arm around Louis’ and holding his hand. It makes Louis smile and feel warm despite how freezing it is outside.

Luckily, Harry only lives about a block and a half away, so it doesn’t take long until their quiet walk home is over and they’re stumbling up the stairs to Harry’s apartment. He’s trying to keep Harry upright, but it’s difficult when he’s leaning all of his body weight on him.

“Haz,” he laughs. “Love, you’ve got to help me out here.”  
  
“Sorry,” Harry says, making an effort to stand up straight. He digs in his back pocket for a good thirty seconds until he’s able to retrieve his keys, handing them to Louis without even attempting to unlock the door himself.

Louis unlocks the door, and leads Harry into his apartment, making sure to close and lock the door. He steers Harry through the room, giving him a small push in the direction of the bathroom. He then goes to the refrigerator and grabs a bottle of water and rummages through cabinets and drawers until he finally finds a bottle of Advil.

When he makes it back to the bathroom, which is it’s own little room off the side near Harry’s closet, Harry has just finished washing his hands and he runs past Louis to throw himself down on his bed, immediately closing his eyes and shifting around to settle in.

Louis just laughs at him. “Come on, Harold. Let’s get you out of these tight jeans. They can’t be comfortable.”  
  
Harry begins unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, trying to shimmy them off without getting up or opening his eyes. “Not my name,” he says absentmindedly. Louis laughs and helps him by taking off his boots and tugging on the ends of the pants until they’re off.

“You wanna sleep in a different shirt?” He asks, which prompts Harry to sit up and take off both layers.

“No shirt, please,” he says, laying back down.

Louis just laughs at him as he folds Harry’s clothes he’s just tossed to the floor, placing them on a chair in the corner of his room.

“You all good for bed now?” Louis asks to make sure.

“No. We can have sex now, please,” Harry says plainly, sending Louis into a fit of giggles.

“Haz, you’re drunk, babe. No sex for you.”

“But please? I want to,” he says, sitting up with his lips in a pout.

“As do I, but you’re drunk. So not tonight, okay? Another time.”

“But,” Harry pauses, brows furrowing. “That’s never been a problem before. You drank, too. It’s okay, I’ve had sex drunk before. Lots of times, even when I’m drunker than this. I can still get it up, if that's what you're worried about. Or do you just not want to?”  
  
“Babe, I promise I want to. Just another time, when you’re sober and can consent, alright?”  
  
“Fine,” he mumbles. “Sorry ‘m drunk.”  
  
“No, no, Harry,” he begins, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself tonight, love. It was fun watching you, too.”  
  
Harry smiles at that, then scoots himself down so he’s laying down flat. “I know we can’t have sex, but will you stay the night? I like to cuddle.”

Louis hesitates. “I don’t know Haz, you’re still drunk, and you may wake up wishing you didn’t ask me that.”

“I can promise you Sober Harry is going to thank Drunk Harry for asking you to stay over,” he says with certainty, making Louis laugh. “Pleaseeee? I’ll make breakfast in the morning,” he says, pouting. Pulling out all the stops, then.  
  
Louis laughs. “Okay, love. Only if you’re sure.”  
  
“I’m sure,” Harry says before yawning and squirming around to get comfortable.

Louis stands up and toes off his Vans before removing his jeans and t-shirt, stopping when his shirt hits the floor. “Is it alright if I sleep in my boxers?”  
  
Harry opens his eyes, his gaze wandering all over Louis’ body before settling on his face. “Yes, you have to. It’s the rule.”  
  
Louis just shakes his head and laughs. “Alright, move over if you want to cuddle.” He waits for Harry to move, then gets under the cover with him, maneuvering himself so he’s laying on his side facing Harry.

“Hi,” Harry whispers, moving closer and tilting his chin to connect their lips.

Louis smiles into the kiss, causing Harry to giggle. “Hi.”  
  
“I’m glad you came with us tonight, even though you didn’t drink that much.”  
  
Louis smiles. “Me, too, and it was much more fun to watch you, believe me. Even when I thought you abandoned me.”

Harry makes an indignant sound when he says that. “When? I didn’t abandon you!”

“No, no. It was... I...” Louis sighs, already feeling embarrassed. “When I saw you hanging all over Matt, I thought you had just ditched me for him.” He shrugs his shoulders as best as he can from the position he’s in, averting his eyes so he doesn’t have to look at Harry.

Harry laughs a little, moving so he’s half on top of Louis and he has no other choice but to look him in the eye. “Jealous, were you?”

"Oh, fuck off," he laughs, rolling his eyes but accepting the kiss Harry gives him anyway.

“Well, I’m glad I wasn’t drunk for that. Might have turned out a bit different. But, next time you can see me get plastered. Deal?”  
  
“Deal,” Harry says through his laughter. He leans forward and kisses Louis once more. “Will you be the big spoon?”  
  
“‘Course,” he smiles, waiting until Harry turns over to wrap his arm around his middle, bringing them as close as they can get.

Harry holds Louis’ hand. “Night, Lou,” he says with a kiss to his palm.

“Night, Haz.” He kisses the back of his shoulder, then slowly drifts off to sleep.

 

△

 

Louis is jolted out of his slumber by a loud clatter and an even louder voice. “Fuckin’ hell!”

He slowly sits up and scans the incredibly bright room only to find Harry standing in the kitchen area of his apartment. He looks shocked, mouth dropped open and eyes wide, staring right at Louis.

“Um, good morning? Are you okay?” Louis asks as he observes the shattered coffee mug at Harry’s feet.

“I am _so_ sorry. I didn’t even...” Harry trails off and looks to the ground, then back at Louis. “I really just yelled didn’t I? For fuck’s sake, I’m really not used to having someone here this early in the morning,” he says with a small laugh.

Louis laughs and assures him that it’s okay, then hops out of bed to go to the bathroom. After he’s finished taking a piss and splashing water on his face, he hears Harry call through the closed door that there are extra toiletries under the skin, which he then takes advantage of, brushing his teeth and applying deodorant.

When he exits the bathroom, he finds Harry plating what seems to be eggs and toast.

“You got up and made breakfast?” he asks, shocked. How is Harry not hungover? What time is it? “What time is it?”

“Almost 10,” Harry says, pouring two mugs of coffee. “Go ahead and fix it how you like it.” He moves to the bar where he sets his mug down and begins cutting up his food.

Louis just stares at him for a moment. How has Harry gotten up, cooked breakfast, and taken a shower if his wet hair is anything to go by, all before 10 in the morning? When he was drunk off his ass last night?

“Who are you? Why aren’t you in bed whining about a hangover?” Louis asks as he walks over and pours a bit of creamer and sugar in his coffee.

Harry smiles and finishes chewing before replying. “Dunno, I always just get up early no matter what. I woke up at half past eight. Didn’t wanna wake you. Also somebody was sweet enough to sit out Advil and water by my bed, so the headache went away quickly enough.”  
  
“But you did wake me up,” Louis reminds him as he goes and plops down on a stool at the bar next to Harry.

“Shut up,” Harry whines. “The mug fell from the cabinet when I opened it, and I can’t tell you why I just shouted like you weren’t sleeping 10 feet away.” He shakes his head.

“Oooh, yeah. Might have been my fault the mug fell,” Louis says, remembering last night when he was recklessly searching for the medicine.

“Oh? You have telekinetic powers? And you can use them in your sleep? That’s incredibly impressive, Louis. You really should rethink this whole fashion blogger thin-”  
  
“Hey!” Louis cuts him off, taking two fingers and digging them into Harry’s side, watching him squirm and giggle. “I meant,” Louis starts, waiting for Harry to stop giggling to continue, “it was dark as fuck in here last night when I was looking for that Advil in your cabinets and drawers, so that might have been why it fell.”

“Ah, good. Not my fault you woke up then.”  
  
“Oh, of course it was, Harold. You didn't have to yell as loud as you did. Who do you think you are? So inconsiderate.”

“I told you,” Harry stresses, putting his fork down after only a fourth of his toast is left. “I’m not used to having guys, like, stay over. I don’t do this often,” he mumbles, then his head shoots straight up and his wide eyes are searching Louis’. “Did we, uh. Um, did we, you know... Uh.” He stops himself, teeth sinking into his lower lip.

“No,” Louis helps him out. “No, you wanted to, but I, uh. We didn’t, ‘cause you were drunk.”

Harry nods, looking down with his lips pressed together.

“Not that I didn’t want to, obviously. It’s just,” he sighs. “I wouldn’t do that to you, not when you’re too drunk to give proper consent. And I know, you said that sometimes guys have sex with you anyway, but,” Louis shrugs, looking back up at Harry, who’s staring intensely at him.

Harry stands from the stool and steps forward, placing a hand on Louis’ cheek and pressing his lips to Louis’.

“Well, thank you,” Harry whispers as he pulls away, just enough to look into Louis’ eyes.

Louis can’t help but smile, leaning in and kissing Harry again, trying to ignore the swooping feeling in his belly.

“You don’t need to thank me for being a decent person, Harry,” he says with a laugh. “If I was as drunk as you were last night and you were sober, I promise you would have done the same thing.”

Harry winces. “I did go a bit overboard, didn’t I?”

Louis laughs, placing a hand on Harry’s arm and giving it a squeeze, “It’s fine, I told you last night. You were just having fun, babe,”

Harry pauses for a moment. “Can I be honest?”

“‘Course,”

“I was really nervous about last night. Even though yesterday morning went great, I was worried that last night I’d somehow mess this up, so I guess I decided I’d drink to calm my nerves and then decided ‘fuck it, I’ll mess it up anyway, might as well just get drunk and not remember it.’”

Louis doesn’t say anything, wanting to let Harry finish.

“I promise I’m not like an alcoholic, though,” Harry began rambling. “Shit, that made it sound bad. I promise I’m not, like, I don’t even drink that much. Maybe a couple of times a month, it’s not like, I don’t have a _problem_ -”

“Hey, hey, Harry,” Louis stands and wraps his arms around Harry’s waist. “It’s okay, I didn’t think you were an alcoholic. It’s okay.” He laughs a bit.

Harry drops his head onto Louis’ shoulder and groans. “I really need to like, fucking chill.”

Louis giggles, and pulls back from the hug. “I’m nervous, too, okay? I don’t wanna mess this up either. I really like you. But let’s trust ourselves, alright? It’s probably silly but I feel like this was meant to be. So, let’s just enjoy it.”  
  
A smile takes over Harry’s face, and Louis leans up to kiss him on the cheek where his dimple is.  
  
Harry leans forward and presses kisses all over Louis’ face, starting at his forehead, moving to his cheeks and nose, then finally his lips.

Louis, despite his giggles, deepens the kiss, running his hands along Harry’s sides. He feels as Harry brings his hand up to cup Louis’ face. He runs his tongue along Harry’s bottom lip, exploring his mouth as he opens it.

Louis bites down on Harry’s lip as he feels one hand sliding down his back and grabbing his ass.

Louis pulls back with a laugh. “How long have you been waiting to do that?” he asks, amusement swimming in his eyes.

“Since I saw you last night in those fucking jeans,” Harry smirks.

Louis huffs a laugh. “Well, since you are sober now...” He looks at Harry, fluttering his lashes dramatically.

Harry just smirks at him. “You sure? Just because I was drunk and horny last night doesn’t mean we have to do anything.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Louis says, raising his eyebrows.

“Good,” he says simply, then drops to his knees.

Louis’ mouth drops wide open. “Jesus fuck, Harry. Didn’t that hurt?”  
  
“Yeah," he winces, "I don’t think it was worth the dramatic effect either.” He sits back on his legs. “Mind if we do this on the bed?”  
  
Louis can't help but laugh. “Yes, obviously. I wasn’t going to suggest you blow me with your knees digging into the hard floor.” He reaches out a hand and helps Harry to his feet, dragging him by the hand to the bed.

He flops down on his back and Harry is immediately on him, attaching his mouth to Louis’ and starting to kiss his way to his neck, nipping at his jaw on the way. Harry presses sloppy, open-mouth kisses to his neck, sucking and biting as he goes.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis whines, knowing how bruised his neck is going to be after this.

He kisses his way to his chest, sucking a bruise over his tattoo there, and Louis can feel himself harden in his boxers as he tries to keep his hips firmly on the bed.

Harry pulls back and looks at Louis. He’s already breathing heavily and Louis can hardly take his eyes off his spit-slick lips, swollen and pink. Without thinking, he reaches up and begins pushing Harry’s sweater off, Harry laughs and sits back to take it all the way off. When he does, their crotches touch and Louis’ can’t help but let loud a loud moan at the feeling of Harry being just as hard as he is and pressed so close.

Harry begins to roll his hips as he straddles Louis, Louis letting out loud moans and Harry laughing through this ragged breaths. He leans back down and begins kissing Louis again.

“If you keep this up, ‘m gonna come in my boxers like ‘m sixteen,” Louis pants.

Harry laughs into his mouth. “Yeah, yeah. Okay.” He moves off of him, settling in between Louis’ legs. He starts to pull down his boxers, looking up to Louis with a raised brow.

Louis nods, lifting his hips as Harry tugs them down. He can hear the hitch in Harry’s breath when his cock springs free and slaps against his stomach.

Harry tosses the boxers to the side, immediately reaching out and circling his hand around his cock. “Is it weird to say that you have the most beautiful cock I’ve ever seen? I don’t care if it is. You do.”

Louis laughs, the sound turning into a moan when Harry thumbs over the head and down the underside along the vein, causing him to buck up his hips.

“If you want to get your mouth on it, you may want to hurry. You get me quite worked up.”  
  
His mouth drops open, choking on a moan when Harry takes him into his mouth. He takes him all the way down instantly, hands on both of Louis’ thighs as he swallows around him and presses his nose to Louis’ groin.

Louis is a withering mess already, taking his hand and threading it into Harry’s hair, watching as he begins to move his head up and down. He pops off after a minute, giving a few tugs with his hand as he mouths at Louis’ balls.

He looks up at Louis as he begins kitten-licking at the head of his dick. “You can fuck my mouth if you want. I like it,” he says before taking him in his mouth again.

Louis groans, considering it for a moment. He’s about to come anyway, so he might as well, if Harry’s asking for it. He tightens his grip on Harry’s hair and begins shallowly thrusting into Harry’s mouth, and Harry is instantly moaning.

The combination of the vibrations on his dick and Harry eagerly swallowing around him as he’s gently thrusting sends him hurtling to the edge. “Harry,” he pants. “Haz, ‘m gonna come,” he gets out, trying to tug at Harry’s hair to get his attention.

This only causes Harry to moan again, more intensely, before pulling off and stroking Louis quickly. “Come on, Lou.” Louis looks at him, his eyes are watery and his lips are so swollen and red. He doesn’t try to hold back any longer, and the moment Harry has his mouth back on him, just suckling on the tip as his hand flys over the shaft, he’s coming with a moan, thrusting forward into his mouth as he rides out his orgasm.

Louis just throws his head back to rest on the bed and laughs. “What the fuck, Styles.”

Harry is giggling as he climbs up and plops himself right on top of Louis, the bit of friction on his spent dick making him wince.

“Why didn’t you tell me you give head like that? Fuck,” he sighs, throwing the arm that isn’t around Harry’s back over his face.

“Dunno, love it though,” he tells him, placing open-mouth kisses on his neck.

“Your turn then?” Louis asks, his hand moving down Harry’s back until he reaches the waistband of Harry’s boxers.

“Nah,” he sighs. “Already did. Should probably get up and change, actually.”

“You, what? When?”

Harry looks up at Louis and smirks. “I told you I liked getting my mouth fucked, and the hair pulling was just a bonus.”  
  
Louis cackles and shakes his head, moving to kiss Harry. “Well, I’m glad then, ‘cause that was the best blowjob I’ve ever gotten.”  
  
“Mmmm, good,” Harry hums, going in for another kiss before laying his head on Louis’ chest.

“Lou?” he asks after a minute. “Would it be too soon to ask you to be my boyfriend?”  
  
“My cock's that good then?” He jokes, laughing as Harry playfully slaps his chest.

“Stop, ‘m serious,” Harry mumbles against the Louis’ neck where he’s hiding his face.

Louis’ glad that he isn’t looking at him right now because the size of the smile that overtakes his face is massive. “It’s not too soon,” he says, placing a kiss on his head. “And, yes. Of course.”  
  
Harry hugs him tight around the waist before getting up out of bed and heading over to the set of drawers on the other end of the room. While Harry changes, he takes a second to look around his apartment. It’s very organized, and bright. Everything is mainly white and grey and black, with a few rainbow items scattered throughout. He likes it a lot, it almost makes him wish he had the amount of windows in his apartment that Harry has, it makes it feel more open.

Harry tosses a pair of joggers and a hoodie at him and it startles him out of his thoughts.

“As much as I want to lay around with you all day,” he says, pulling his sweater back on with the light wash jeans he just put on. “And believe me, I really want to,” he says, looking Louis up and down pointedly. “I really need to get to work on a post for today. I don’t really like the one I have already planned to go up.”

Louis pulls the joggers on. “Okay,” he says, inwardly sighing. He gets it, he knows he can't just hang out with Harry forever, even though he kind of wishes he could.. “Got it. Not going to overstay my welcome.” He pulls the hoodie over his head and stands up, looking around for his clothes from last night and his shoes.  
  
“No!” Harry nearly yells, and great. Now he’s going to try and make it seem like he’s not kicking Louis out. “No, no. Not what I meant at all,” he says walking toward him, hesitating a bit before he grabs for Louis’ hand. “Unless you want to go and be alone, I was thinking we could go to a coffee shop or something and work together for a bit?”  
  
“Yeah?”

“Yeah, of course.” Harry smiles, squeezing his hand. “I basically keep extending our first date, but,” he shrugs. “Like you said about trusting ourselves and enjoying it. I enjoy hanging out with you. And maybe we could do like, a collab post again or something?”

“Okay,” Louis says, smiling and kissing him on the lips. “Okay, but we can grab food and go to my place? That alright?”  
  
“Perfect,” Harry says with a smile.

Harry tells him not to worry about his clothes, he’ll wash them and get them back to him, so they head out and order food that will hopefully meet them at the door when they get to his apartment.

While they’re walking hand in hand through the city, he decides to snap a picture of their feet while they’re waiting for the crosswalk sign to turn, and posts it with the caption “Can’t believe I get you.”

When Harry sees it, they’ve already been at Louis’ apartment for nearly an hour, and he launches himself at Louis from the other side of the couch and kisses him, pulling back and saying with a whisper, “Me either, but I’m so glad I do.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! [Here's a rebloggable post if you'd like to reblog](http://styleandsin.tumblr.com/post/172658914179/found-my-missing-piece-by-styleandsin-16k) :)


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